Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he won't run for a second four-year term if the post remains ``honorary'' following this week's National Assembly election. ``The president of the republic must be a real president, active in the leadership of the state, for the simple reason that Iraqis expect a lot from him,'' said Talabani, 72, in an e- mailed statement late yesterday. He said Iraq's new constitution deprives the president of a role in managing the state, adding, ``I refuse to present my candidacy in such circumstances.'' It wasn't immediately clear whether Talabani intends to run for another position or is setting out his demands before the new constitution is amended by lawmakers early next year. The charter now limits presidential powers, to guard against a return to dictatorship. ... http://quote.bloomberg.com

A Swiss investigator probing claims of secret CIA prisons in Europe said his committee has evidence that supports allegations that prisoners were transferred between countries and temporarily held "without any judicial involvement.""Legal proceedings in progress in certain countries seemed to indicate that individuals had been abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal standards," lawmaker Dick Marty said in a written report summarizing his investigations so far.Marty told a news conference he believed the United States was no longer holding prisoners clandestinely in Europe and believes they were moved to North Africa in early November, when reports about secret U.S. prisons first emerged in The Washington Post. He did not provide any other details....http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/12/13/cia.europe.ap/index.html?section=cnn_world

The Supreme Court is injecting itself into the question of how much politics is acceptable in drawing legislative boundaries, revisiting a subject that has divided current court members. The outcome of the new case, involving a hotly contested congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, could be affected by the court's turnover, which is still in progress. The justices said yesterday that they would review challenges filed by Democrats and minority groups. The announcement came as a surprise. Texas had declined to present any arguments to the court, and it took the justices an unusual six weeks of private discussions to decide what to do with the case. In addition, lawyers have been told that the appeal is being put on a fast track, meaning candidates for Texas congressional seats in 2006 will be campaigning as the court deals with the issue. The Supreme Court is already looking at two campaign finance cases. That guarantees that 2006 will reveal ...http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051212-110501-3238r.htm

Bitterly divided over cutting subsidies and import tariffs, ministers from around the world shifted their focus on Tuesday to delivering trade aid to poor nations as they gathered for a week of talks in Hong Kong. There was no sign that the talks would break a deadlock in negotiations for a global free trade pact, and anti-globalisation protesters turned out in force hoping that they would fail.Thousands were due to march through the heavily policed streets of the former British colony, which ironically owes much of its prosperity to international commerce.More than 1,000 South Korean protesters converged in Hong Kong island's Victoria Park holding banners that decried the World Trade Organization (WTO) and carrying a mock coffin to signify the death of the Geneva-based trade body....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051213/ts_nm/trade_wto_dc

A squirming audience of pigtails and freckles strains to watch puppets wearing goofy expressions at Bill Hefner Elementary School. At any other school, this might be a holiday pageant or a Thanksgiving play. But not here, in the shadow of the Army's Fort Bragg, during a war that keeps whisking away the moms and the dads of these kids for what seems like forever.The puppet show, wishfully titled Nothing to Worry About, is an Army-sponsored program intended to make children of soldiers more resilient by gently reassuring them that their absent parents still love and remember them.Moderator Breta Sandifer reminds the 60 kids that other children share their fears and that talking about them is good. "It's absolutely OK just to cry," she says....http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-12-12-war-kids-cover_x.htm?csp=34

Two powerful undersea earthquakes struck within seconds near Fiji on Tuesday, and officials issued a tsunami alert for the local area. No damage or injuries were immediately reported. The first quake, with a magnitude of 6.3, occurred at 3:16 p.m. about 150 miles northeast of Vanua Levu, the main tourist spot in Fiji's chain of islands, at a depth of 18 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Seconds later, a magnitude 6.8 aftershock struck nearby, about 470 miles west of Apia, the capital of neighboring Samoa, the survey said. The second quake was much deeper, at 102 miles beneath the ocean floor....http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1399939